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Women's Soccer

Women's Soccer GSAC Tournament Final @ Vanguard

Sea Lions Lose Shootout, VUSC Claims Tournament Title

The GSAC Tournament Championship came down to penalty kicks and when it was all said and done, third-seed Vanguard claimed the tournament title and earned an automatic berth to the Opening Round of the NAIA Championships after topping PLNU in the shootout 3-1. Scoreless through 110 minutes of play, the match is officially a 0-0 tie, though it doesn't feel like one to the Sea Lions.
 
PLNU (12-4-3), the fourth-seeded team in the conference tournament, must now wait to see if the team will receive an at-large berth to nationals. All of the qualifying teams and seedings will be announced by the NAIA Sunday afternoon. The No. 12-ranked Sea Lions are hoping for the chance to participate in their third national tournament.
 
Defense was the theme for Friday's GSAC Tournament Championship Match between PLNU and hosts, No. 7-ranked Vanguard (12-1-5). The statistics foresaw that opportunities and actually finishing the few chances each offense was going to be able to create, were going to be slim. Lion keeper Jillian Voss and the VUSC defense had allowed just nine goals all season for a minuscule .48 goals per game average.
 
That's the exact same number of goals and goals against average that the stingy PLNU defense and Sea Lion netminder Tiffany Kracy yielded coming into the tournament final.
 
One of the scores that PLNU allowed this year was versus Vanguard in a regular season match on October 21. In that contest it was Vanguard stunning the Sea Lions with a goal in the 109th minute to claim a 1-0 victory.
 
Neither side managed a goal after 45 minutes or after 90 minutes of action Friday. The playoff tilt was similar the prior match except that this one was scoreless through regulation and two overtimes and would be decided on penalty kicks.
 
“I felt like they played well enough to win in regulation,” said head coach Tim Hall. “We did not finish on our penalty kicks for sure, but I have no complaints … Tiffany did more than her job.”
 
Both teams had already advanced in the tournament in shootouts. VUSC got past Concordia 4-2, in a first-round affair while PLNU had edged Azusa Pacific 3-1 on PKs in the semifinals.
 
Vanguard went first in the shootout. Gabriella Vales booted an attempt that was stopped by Kracy, PLNU's all-conference keeper. Foss is an All-GSAC performer as well, and she also lived up to the billing, turning back Lauren Hernandez's shot. Kracy did the same to Amanda Couch while a shot from Alex Fuller went wide.
 
Karri Currier struck first, sending the ball into the top left corner of the PLNU net to give the Lions a 1-0 advantage in the shootout. Foss then saved Kelsey Lundberg's third shot. Ivana Mendez made VUSC's fourth attempt before Tommie Graham finally got one in past Foss. But with Vanguard leading 2-1 and the Sea Lions with just one more attempt left, the Lions needed one more PK to eliminate PLNU and they got that when Kathleen McDonald pushed one in.

“We tried our hardest. There's nothing more we could ask for,” said Kracy. “Unfortunately we have to just move on and focus on nationals.”
 
Vanguard had an 11-8 advantage on shots taken before the shootout with both sides on target four times. Each keeper was officially credited with four saves. The pair also stopped an amazing number of penalty kicks - five combined.
 
The Sea Lions had the best opportunity for a score during regulation but instead of attempting a shot on goal on an open net, PLNU slid over a cross. Unfortunately, no teammates were there to take the pass.
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